title: Autoantibody to growth hormone in a patient with myasthenia gravis.
abstract: An autoantibody to GH was detected in the serum from a patient with myasthenia gravis (MG) who had never been prescribed GH. Using an immunoprecipitation technique, this autoantibody was found to belong to the IgG class and had a kappa chain. The dissociation constant of the antibody was 56.8 nmol/l and the binding capacity was 37 nmol/l. Serum samples from another 130 patients, including 37 with MG, were examined, but the GH autoantibody could not be detected. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating the presence of a GH autoantibody.
authors.affiliation: Fourth Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity / Q000379:methods; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D011233:Precipitin Tests / Q000379:methods; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D013006:Growth Hormone